Shallow grave yields details of Mormon-Goshute massacre in Nephi

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The remains of seven American Indians unearthedby a home builder show several were shot point-blank in the head byMormon settlers seeking revenge during a period of pitched violence in1853, says scientists who plan to release their findings on Friday.

The bones were discovered by contractors digging in Nephi, about 70miles south of Salt Lake City, last summer for a house that now standsover the site.

The victims, all males about 13 to 35 years old, are believed to havebeen Goshute Indians who were unwitting casualties of the Walker War,a nearly yearlong clash between Mormons and other Indian tribes underthe leadership of Ute Chief Walkara.

"These Indians just happened to be in the wrong place," said Ron Rood,an assistant state archaeologist who retrieved the bones, scraps ofclothing, copper ornaments and a lead bullet from inside a skull.

By one account, the Oct. 2, 1853, killings were in retaliation for theambush a day before of four Manti, Utah, farmers hauling wheat to SaltLake City by oxen. That attacked occurred at Fountain Green, abouthalfway between Manti and Nephi.

Manti is about 30 miles southeast of Nephi, a gateway to the Wasatch Front.

The massacre occurred during a summer and fall of bloody conflictbetween Mormon settlers fanning out from the Salt Lake valley andraiding tribes.

"There were a whole series of tit-for-tat killings," he said.

Rood said his findings refute an account by a Mormon militia regimentthat the Indians approached Nephi refusing to drop their weapons andattacked first, hitting a settler with an arrow.

"A discovery like this allows the victims to tell their story," Utahstate archaeologist Kevin Jones said.

Four of the victims were shot in the head. All of the victims showeddefensive wounds. The hands of one Indian were tied behind his back.Several showed evidence of blunt-force trauma.

Their bodies were heaped into a shallow grave about 3 feet wide, Rood said.

The grave was covered by a cedar plank and several feet of sedimentfrom flash floods over the years. By last August it yielded to heavyequipment digging a hole for a foundation.

Contractors stopped the excavation to call police and a medical examiner.

The event had been recorded in historical accounts as involving IsaacMorley, a leader of 225 settlers sent to Nephi by Brigham Young, thesecond president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"We have the personal journals of two women who witnessed this eventand described it as a heinous act of murder," said Rood.

"This is a great example of archaeology and history coming together."

Rood teamed up with Derinna Kopp, a forensic anthropologist at theUniversity of Utah.

Their investigation will be the topic of a lecture Friday night at aconference of the Utah Statewide Archaeological Society at Utah ValleyState College in Orem.

Springville, Utah, historian D. Robert Carter plans to set the stagefor Rood with an overview of settler and Indian conflict in Utahvalley.

Friday's lecture is scheduled for 8 p.m. at the McKay Events Center at UVSC.